Search for the Missing in Action

June 1, 2007

President Musharraf had invited the Next of kin of the Indian Officers and men missing in Action since the 1965 and 1971 wars recently when he and the Indian External Affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee met in January, 2007.

The last and only visit by Next of kin had been in 1983 when general Zia was in power. then 6 family members had come to Pakistan to visit Multan jail where they were supposed to be shown all Indian prisoners. However, on the day the Indians reached Pakistan, it appeared in the newspapers "India goes back on it’s word". India was supposed to show the Paksitanis 23 pakistanis in Patiala jail but showed them only 3 as per reports. Also Indira Gandhi made some statements about Frontier Gandhi which enraged Zia who took the statements as an interference in pakistan’s internal affairs. So when the relatives reached Multan , they were told at the outset, "those who you have come to see are not here. Go meet Zia- only he can help you now."

The families had come with high hopes and there was a feeling that somethiong would come out of the trip as they had been told by the Indian govt- " Go get your men, they may not be in the best of health but get them back."

They returned dissapointed. It took 24 years before another trip could materialise.
"Do we really believe the men , if they are here , could still be alive," we are asked? " Why would any country hold them back " , we are asked.

" Why not ," we answer. " A lot of things happen in war. People get captured, sometimes people give other names and are kept under those names. Sometimes people lose their mental balcnce and are unable to identify themselves.

Jagseer Singh and Mohd Arif , two Indian army soldiers were captured in the Kargil conflict. The Indian side labelled them as deserters and the pakistani side kept them for 5 years before they managed to get a letter out to their families. They were then released. If this could happen in 1999, anything could have happened in 1971 when tempers were running high!

The fact is the Indian govt has been very lackadaisical intheir approach to these men as well- there has been no coordinated effort . And the facts stare one in the face.

Maj Ashok Suri’s letter written from Karachi jail in 1975 is proof he was there - and he mentions 20 other officers with him there. The truth should come out.

We, families of 154 relatives arrived in Lahore yesterday. We come here with hope- hope of meeting our next of kin. We come here on a humanitarian issue- not a political one. We were hoping to meet President Musharraf to thank him for letting us come here. He is in a unique position to help us. The 1971 war happened 35 years ago - when he was not on the scene, but he is in a position to resolve this purely humanitarian issue. It would be a huge step forwards for humanity as a whole and for our two countries.

We visit Kot Lakhpat jail today. Then we have a gruelling schedule when we visit Karachi, Multan, Mianwali, Sukkur, Dargai, Islamabad, etc- travelling all over by bus- daily a jail. Our oldest memebrs, Nirmal Kaur 68 years old and diabetic and Mr Rathod, 70 years old will be exhausted but we cannot let up in our search; in the hope that somewhere we will find someone and end this long wait of 35 years.

More later. We must leave now. Will update tomorrow.